Does your flea market charge buyers an entrance fee ?

One flea market did that a few years ago and about drove the market into the ground and switched back to free.

On the other hand there are several big flea markets within 90 miles that STILL do it and get away with it. One of them is in Alameda, CA.

You?

That's like Sears charging customers to come in and shop. Shear lunacy.

the big ones around here used to 50 cents per person or $2 a carload, they are all out of business now , not because of lack of attendance but because the property got to the point where it was worth far more than the flea market on it

They have always charged $1.00 a person if you walk in or $2.00 a car if you drive in and park.

Nope - never around here.  If they did people would quickly leave the place.  Both buyers and sellers.  At our flea they make a mint from the table rent and the food sales.

The biggest one here in DFW charges for parking, so I guess that's essentially a "per carload" charge.

When I lived in NJ, one flea market charged for parking. Same thing really, just not calling it an entrance fee. Walk in for free if you park on the public streets. To use their parking, pay $2.00. Last I heard, they're still the busiest flea market around.

To use their parking, pay $2.00.

That's actually pretty expensive considering where you're going. That $2.00 could buy a whole new(used) wardrobe.

$2 in NJ is nothing. The flea market is in Englishtown which is a major town for drag racing. There are 5 buildings filled with retail vendors and a HUGE outdoor area mixed with retail vendors and people selling their yard sale stuff. It makes our big flea market here in Raleigh look like a joke. Not many people pay the parking fee because there's plenty of parking on the public streets convenient to the flea market. I'd say at any given time, their parking lot is about half full. This was also about 10 years ago..

I just checked their site and apparently they are no longer charging for parking..

Ramona Flea Market in Jacksonville, FL charges 50 Cents... the place is really BIG ( largest or 2nd largest in the area)...they get away with it and to me there's plenty of "action",, I only bring my $5.00 and less stuff though and sell maybe once  a month for my clearance/tired of looking at it/need the storage space....Vendor prices are reasonable

Alameda gets away with it, because it is anything but a fleamarket.
The most AWESOME antique faire EVER.
Beanie Babies and other modern crap is strictly VERBOTEN!
Also keep in mind the demographics. Bay Area is stinking rich. Money is NOT an issue there.

A wanna bee startup antique faire in Stockton tried that a few years ago. $5 admission.
I think they lasted 3-4 months.

First couple of months TONS of vendors. Had a real promising start, but the admission kept buyers away.

Really stupid move. Especialyl since they didn't even plan on keeping the admission, but donated it to some charity.

Funny thing about the Alameda one is the entrance fee is larger if you come early. I think $15 if you arrive between 6:00am and 7:30am, $10 7:30am-9am and $5 9am-on. I went for the first time recently and arrived later and paid $5. Definitely nicer than a regular flea market. I was told by a friend that it is swarmed by buyers during the 6am-7:30 time and the best stuff is swooped up pretty quickly.

Funny thing about the Alameda one is the entrance fee is larger if you come early. I think $15 if you arrive between 6:00am and 7:30am, $10 7:30am-9am and $5 9am-on. I went for the first time recently and arrived later and paid $5. Definitely nicer than a regular flea market. I was told by a friend that it is swarmed by buyers during the 6am-7:30 time and the best stuff is swooped up pretty quickly.

Those early bird 'buyers' are most likely scouts/resellers/pickers.